Ex-Crystal Palace midfielder Yohan Cabaye has made his selection for the Eagles’ man to watch ahead of their FA Cup final clash against Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday.
The SE25 outfit thumped Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley in the semi-finals in late April thanks to goals from Eberechi Eze and a brace from Ismaila Sarr. They are unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions.
Palace took an early two-goal lead in their last clash with City in April but ended up leaving in defeat as Pep Guardiola’s men found their feet and put five unanswered goals past Eagles stopper Dean Henderson.
Cabaye made more than 100 appearances in his three seasons in South London, making up part of the team that lost to Manchester United in Palace’s last FA Cup final appearance in 2016.
Cabaye won three Ligue Un titles and two Coupe de France trophies with Lille and Paris Saint Germain before arriving at Palace in 2015.
Speaking on behalf of [listofsweepstakecasinos.com](http://listofsweepstakecasinos.com/) Cabaye said: “It is going to be a very good game against Manchester City. A final is always a special game, a special moment for players.
“With Eze, Adam Wharton and Marc Guehi there are three really talented players, but there’s also Jean-Philippe Mateta, who looks like he is really confident at the moment.
“I think with Mateta, if he plays as he has done recently, then he could be the main man when it comes to playing against Manchester City.”
Cabaye singled out Adam Wharton as another player who could change the game for Palace against a team with as much firepower as their opponents.
“It’s hard to say just how high Wharton can go,” said Cabaye. “But he is definitely a really good player. What I like about him is that he is really talented.
“In the future, Manchester City are one of the biggest clubs in the world, so I could see him being one of the top players for the future. He’s already an England international.
“I would not like to compare him to myself exactly, but in terms of a box-to-box midfielder, I really like how clever he is. Technically he is very good, and what is important right now is that he is in great form for Crystal Palace.”
The former French international had his own taste of FA Cup final action with Palace when they reached the final against Manchester United in 2016.
Cabaye started the game but was replaced in the 71st minute by Jason Puncheon, who opened the scoring seven minutes later, taking down a Joel Ward cross before finishing past David de Gea from a tight angle.
An almost-instant Juan Mata equaliser forced the tie to extra-time. Despite being down to 10 men due to a Chris Smalling’s red card, Manchester United found the winner through Jesse Lingard in the 110th minute.
“When Puncheon scored the first goal for us in the FA Cup final against Manchester United, we all thought it was of course an important goal,” said Cabaye, who had signed for the Eagles from PSG in the summer transfer window prior. “We were thinking, OK, the cup is ours!
“We thought ‘okay, the game is going to go our way.’ Unfortunately, against a club like Manchester United, the game is not over until it is over. They had experience in big matches that perhaps we did not have. For us, it was a disappointment.”